Saturday, September 24, 2005

Able Danger Update V

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department on Friday reversed its earlier decision to bar key witnesses from testifying about just how much information the U.S. government had on the Sept. 11 hijackers before they led the attacks that killed 3,000 people.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has therefore scheduled a second hearing for next week on the formerly secret Pentagon intelligence unit called 'Able Danger'...

On Wednesday, former army major and head of the Pentagon's Land Warfare Analysis Department Erik Kleinsmith testified that he had been ordered to destroy large amounts of Able Danger data. However, Pentagon lawyers blocked the testimony of five other Able Danger team members.

Friday's reversal of the Pentagon's decision means that the Committee will hear the testimony of the five other witnesses. The five include army intelligence officer Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, the first Able Danger team member to publicly state that a terrorist cell, which included Mohammed Atta and three other 9-11 hijackers, had been identified operating in New York over a year before the terrorist attacks. Also among the five are navy captain Scott Philpott, who publicly confirmed Shaffer's claim, and civilian defense contractor James Smith, who created a chart in 2000 that included Atta as a potential threat.

Undate: Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter has scheduled the new hearings for October 5th.

2 Comments:

Your right, it is a huge story. That's why I'm continuing to update it. Of course the MSM is not giving it much coverage. It happened on Clinton's watch. If this happened during the summer of 2001, MSM would be all over it.